Of all Japan’s cultural exports, outside of the martial arts, origami is surely one of the best known and most widely practiced. It has its roots in 6th century Japan when Buddhist monks introduced paper from China, but paper-folding was known by various names until the late 19th century when the word origami was coined, possibly because its written characters were easier for children to read. It was popularised in the West in the 1950s through the work of Akira Yoshizawa. But for the Japanese, [Continue Reading…]